Starfox Adventures is the first and only GameCube game by Rare. This StarFox game takes place on the Dinosaur Planet, and Fox McCloud takes to the ground away from his Arwing. The planet is about to face a cataclysmic end, threatening the very safety of the Lylat System. It's up to Fox McCloud to save the planet. Using a staff he finds down on the planet he explores the vast ranges of Dinosaur Planet. Some of the planet's surface has broken away from the main planet, and Fox must jump back in his Arwing and take to space.
As of now StarFox Adventures has the best full 3-D graphics on Cube. The worlds ar lush, colorful and sharp. Each of the areas on Dinosaur Planet has a really unique feel. Snow levels look incredible. You'll enjoy the lush green pastures of ThornTail Hollow, or the really strange Moon-like graphics of Moon Mountain Pass. The Lava based areas are espcially cool with great heat waves and the lava textures look very real. The water is very cool, it is even more realistic looking than Super Mario Sunshine's. It reflects what is near by and the reflections are warped by the water's ripples. The textures are sharp and clean, like Rare's texture work tends to be, even on the N64. Fox's fur looks really cool as well as the fur on the other animals like the Woolly Mammoths. This game has all the eye candy that GameCube owners are looking for.
The controls in SFA are solid and simple and easy to learn, espcially if you've played one of the N64 Zelda games. The two games controls are very simular. SFA adds a few nice refinements to the Zelda64 style controls in the form of the C stick Item menu and the adjusted lock on feature. The C stick menu is a cool feature, and it works very well most of the time, you use the C-Stick to choose items, staff powers, and control your little dinosaur sidekick. It also allows you to choose items and commands even while fighting. And the adjusted lock-on is good, because it elimates the need to press a button to lock on. When there is an enemy, to lock on you just pull out your weapon. Don't wanna fight either don't pull out your weapon or put it away, and the lock is broken. It works a bit more smoothly then Zelda64's. Fighting is okay but takes no stratagy, you just bang on the a button and beat on your enemy. It's a low point of the game. The quest on the other hand is great, it does have a bit of Rare's Collect stuff syndrome but it's not as bad as other Rare games. The adventure plays out like a simplified Zelda64. And when I say simplified I mean the puzzles aren't as devious, the "dungeons" aren't as big, there aren't as many secrets etc. But you still will have a lot of fun exploring the massive world and taking part in the well done story. There are also short shooting levels that take you between the Main Planet and the "island" like pieces that have broken away into space. They are short, but they give you just enough classic StarFox gameplay to hold you. It will take about 20hours to finish the game the first time, but about 15 the second. A 15 hour quest from start to finish no matter what is quite good.
The sounds in SFA are really quite good. Each and every thing has a good sound effect. From the laser blasting of the space shooter section to the roaring of the dinosaurs. You'll hear birds, the brook bubbling, etc. Fox's foot steps make different sounds on snow, rock, and grass. SFA has great music, everything just fits, from african tribal-esc music of ThornTail Hollow and CapeClaw to the more orcastrated tunes of the Shooting levels, which is a great version of the StarFox64 music. The voice acting is very well done. But the choice of British/Irish type accents for the dinosaurs was kinda wierd. And the game starts of with all the voices(except Fox and friends who don't know how to speak or understand it) done in the language of Dinosaur Planet, it's cool that Rare took that much time to develop a langauge just for the game. Even though it gets pushed aside for english when Slippy develops a translator.
StarFox Adventures is a good game that should at least be tried, StarFox fans may dissapointed with the lack of Arwing action, and Adventure fans may be dissapointed by the lack of secrets. But it is a solid quest, that is highly enjoyable while it lasts. Another thing is the game is quite easy, but that just makes the 15 hour quest even more impressive. It's is too bad this is Rare's only GameCube game because thier next game could of been great. But StarFox Adventures shouldn't be missed by GCN owners.
8.9 out of 10
Review by Tom Aitken...
Starfox Adventures is the first and only GameCube game by Rare. This StarFox game takes place on the Dinosaur Planet, and Fox McCloud takes to the ground away from his Arwing. The planet is about to face a cataclysmic end, threatening the very safety of the Lylat System. It's up to Fox McCloud to save the planet. Using a staff he finds down on the planet he explores the vast ranges of Dinosaur Planet. Some of the planet's surface has broken away from the main planet, and Fox must jump back in his Arwing and take to space.
